Six years of weight. Six years of pressure. Six years of losing. The winless streak had grown so long for the Renton softball team that the two previous groups of seniors hadn’t even seen a win.
All of that was wiped away as Jasmine Bie struck out the final Highline batter April 16, leaving the Indians with their first win since 2003.
“You would’ve thought they had won a million bucks, each of them,” said Renton coach Otis Ward.
Ward is in his third season coaching the Indians, a job that he characterized as “a lot of rebuilding.” After the win, he was most proud to simply see his team happy.
“I had to walk away because I was really touched and I had to keep a tough exterior for my girls,” Ward said. “To me it was like coming home for the first time after being gone for years. I’ve never seen so much joy in the faces of these young ladies.”
Renton scored in the first inning to take one of the few leads the team has had in recent years.
“It was 1-0 after the first inning and we were like ‘1-0, who? us?'” said Renton senior catcher Sable Moton. “Then we went up 5-0 and I knew we could hold on and finally win a game.”
Though Highline got within two runs in the fourth inning, Renton led the whole way.
“The whole team came as a team, they looked like a new group,” Ward said. “I didn’t recognize them myself.”
Bie, a senior, put forth a quality outing at pitcher. She allowed 11 hits and four runs, while striking out three. Most importantly, she earned her first career win.
When the last out was made the Renton team erupted in celebration, mobbing Bie and running a victory lap. Ward said many of the opposing team and fans cheered with Renton.
“We’ve never won before, and the kids before us had never won before. So it’s kind of like us breaking that tide,” said senior Vanessa Ofrancia. “It pumps us up and makes us feel like we can win more. It gives us ambition.”
Ofrancia said the victory had even more meaning because the current group of eight seniors has been working towards this for four years, since the girls played on JV together.
Bie, Ofrancia and Moton have been big keys to Renton’s season. Some other important players have been Casey Anderson at first base and Tanjanay Lowe at shortstop.
“It was like a weight off my shoulders,” Moton said. “We finally won.”
Update:
The Renton girls didn’t stop with one win. The team won a second consecutive game against Tyee April 20, 21-17.
Jasmine Bie earned the win as pitcher. Vanessa Ofrancis went 4-5, Sable Moton went 3-5 and Amanda Kite went 2-3 in the win against the Totems.
The Indians improved to 2-3 and jumped up to fifth place in the Seamount.
